The Turning Point
by xDumbly-dor
Summary: It is hard to trust somebody of whom you barely know. Especially in the Hunger Games.
1. Chapter 1

The scorching heat burns the skin on my neck as I walk, dehydrated, starving as ever. Black spots are appearing before me as my eyelids open and close. As I march towards my distant rest I realize how blissfully unaware I am of my surroundings once again. It's been six days since my arrival at the arena, since I dived from my podium and ran like crazy towards the woods.

My calves burn from walking and I know that I should rest, but if I stop now, the Careers might catch up with me. Or worse, Peeta might catch up with me. He knows my weaknesses and my strengths better than I do, and if this isn't already a very nerve-wracking thought in itself, it most certainly is in the arena. I have known Peeta for much of my life. Not as friends, or even acquaintances, but as a mere name who attends the same school as I do. Or did.

The Capitol have made sure that I will not be returning to school, for I have been selected to participate in the Hunger Games, an event that takes place every year for the Capitol's - and the Districts - entertainment purposes. Although, I have personally never found it particularly exciting to watch twenty three people be assassinated and watch as one person comes out of the games with a life full of luxuries. It makes me sick. And now I find myself in the middle of one of the Hunger Games arenas; myself participating in the games.

The terrain for the arena is perfect, suiting my needs and hopes with it's high trees and forestry, with plants and lakes to eat and drink from. Although, I haven't yet found a nearby lake that the Careers won't be by, and I have not eaten for days. I keep walking along the pathway and in the distance I can hear screams, and a cannonball goes off. One of the tributes was dead. I hope it's Peeta. That way I won't have to kill him.

The odds are not in my favour, for it is not him. It is a girl who's name I did not bother to find out. As I stumble along the sun-lit road I come across I can see a figure in the distance, the gleam off of a knife as the sun reflects off it, bouncing against the trees and the paths that the stranger walks on. I force myself to walk on, not caring any more if this person is going to kill me or not. Rue is dead, my only ally, my only friend in the arena, so why should anything matter now? It's not as if I stood a chance winning in the first place.

The figure approaching grows closer and closer, and I find myself reading for my bow and arrows, though knowing all along that I won't have the will power, or the strength, to shoot the person walking towards me. The blond hair sodden with sweat, his blue eyes twisted with sadness. I knew who it was in an instant and I some how gained the physical energy to run.

I don't know why, but I felt an overpowering urge to run away, as if the very sight of Peeta was enough to drive me to running. I hope to find a tall tree to hide in, but there are none. I can't find one that I could climb quickly. That's when the rock hits me on the back of the head, causing me to fall face down into a bush unconscious.

I dream of bread and goats and Prim, my sister, sitting in a rocking chair gently humming Rue's four note song. I see President Snow sitting in his mansion in the Capitol watching Prim, laughing, mocking her, waiting to kill her.

I wake with a start, screaming for my sister, wanting to warn her of Snow who is planning to kill her. Peeta's face staring right in front of me makes me scream loud enough that he has to grab me by the mouth and force me to quiet. He stares into my eyes for a whole, still clasping my mouth tight shut, until I stop screaming. Then he lets go.

My eyes are weary and tired and I'm unable to focus on anything but the pain in my legs, my arms, and my throat. I wonder what day it is, but I can't open my mouth to speak through the pain. Peeta's hand rests on mine and I shoot up to my feet, only to sink back down to the floor in pain. I'm shivering, and only then do I realise that it's night time.

Peeta has his knife in his hand and I wonder if he's about to kill me. He's twisting it around and around, taunting it in front of me, as if pondering whether or not or how to kill me. In my sleep? Right now?

I wonder if I could grab my bow and arrows, but realise that it would be useless. Peeta is quick, and I am too, but not when my arrows are three metres away from me and he is right in front of me. He'd have me dead before I could even stretch my arm out to grab the bow.

My sleepy eyes sting to blink but I know that I can't sleep with Peeta near by. I am not directly watching him, but out of the corner of my eye I can see him staring at me.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" I croak, my throat so dehydrated and dry that I sound inhuman.

"I never planned on killing you, Katniss." he whispers.

I stare into his eyes, unable to tell if he's lying, and slowly find myself falling unconscious once again.


	2. Chapter 2

As sunrise approached, I sleepily raise my head and try to figure out where we are. My bow and arrow are at my feet still, untouched, and Peeta is sleeping beside me, his knife held tightly in his hands. My whole body still aching in pain, I grudgingly sit up and stretch my muscles, allowing my eyes to adjust to the light.

As if sensing my quiet movement, Peeta stirred in his sleep. Then his lips moved so quickly, he may not have spoke at all when he whispered, "please don't leave."

I stared down at him, watching his eyes as they moved under his eyelids, watching as his lips quivered in the shade of the tree's and rocks that we were hidden behind. I didn't speak. I couldn't.

"I've been searching for you for days, Katniss, please-"

"Just stop," I finally spoke, "don't pretend to care about me! I heard what you said to the careers, about finding me!"

Peeta's eyes opened and gazed up at me, his face and body still and unmoving. I looked away, anger flushing through my body.

"I told you to run, didn't I? I told you to run away after you dropped the nest on us. I saved you, and you're not even grateful," Peeta paused, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him. "Kill me. If I'm such a threat, why don't you just kill me?"

I faced him again, a look of disbelief playing on my face. The knife that he had guarded so well during the night was pushed into my hand, his blue eyes staring into mine as I gripped it tightly. I wasn't sure what his game was, giving me his knife. I didn't trust him, but I didn't want to kill him. He had that effect on me.

I push the knife back to him and turn away, rising to my feet and pick up my bow and arrow. "We need to leave now,"

I walk ahead of Peeta and wonder if Prim is watching me right now. I wonder what she's thinking, if she's being strong for me. I can feel myself tearing up and sternly warn myself of the consequences of this and sober up.

"Katniss,"

I ignore Peeta, knowing he'll just annoy me if I respond, and instead pick up my pace.

"Katniss, listen to me. I only lied to the careers to protect us! You have to believe me!" exclaimed Peeta, only then to hush quickly as if suddenly aware of his surroundings.

As I spin on my heel to lay into him my harsh words, out of the corner of my eye I sense movement and stop, completely paralyzed and unable to move. I slowly bring my finger up to my mouth indicating silence to Peeta and turn my head to face the noise. In the bushes there is scuffling but I can't tell if it's an animal or someone waiting to kill me. I squint and can see a pair of huge eyes staring back at me, but as the figure realised I could see them I heard more scuffling and then the sound of movement in the opposite direction.

I hadn't realised that Peeta was limping until we had began walking again. I watched as he dragged his foot along the pathway and twisted his face in pain whenever he accidentally put too much pressure on his foot. Out of sheer annoyance I turned to Peeta and stopped him by placing my hand on his chest.

"What happened to your foot?"

For a second he just stared, and for all the right reasons. I smelt him before I felt him and just as I did a large hand grabbed me from behind and hauled me up into the air only to then force me into the ground. Every bone in my body cried out in agony as the large figure beat into me, kicking me. As my eyes teared up I searched for Peeta but he was nowhere in sight and I knew that as much as I hated him for leaving me to die, he had every right to.

I knew that the tribute trying to kill me was Cato from district 2. I wasn't surprised, as after looking into his face for the first time since the nest incident it appeared he had only barely escaped with his life from the lumps and scars on his formally good-looking face. Every muscle was aching and I wished for the ground to swallow me up whole rather than be beaten to death by this madman.

As I was close to passing out, as black spots appeared before me once more, I could hear the distant sound of Prim begging me to stay alive. I wanted to call back to her, to tell her that it was over and that I loved her, but I couldn't move my mouth. I wasn't sure which breath would be my last and just as I watched Cato pick up a large rock, surely intent on smashing my brains into the ground, he suddenly froze in his place.

I narrowly moved out the way of the rock and it landed on the floor beside me as I rolled away. Cato collapsed in a heap on the ground and before me stood Peeta with a large post in his hand and panting.

"Get up, we need to run."


End file.
